Wednesday, March 5, 2014

So,
what's unique about the new LPC family? First, the LPC1500 was designed
to simplify motor control for the masses. It has the flexibility to
drive various types of motors, such as ACIM, PMSM, BLDC, etc. The
LPC1500 can also drive multiple motors simultaneously.

These
aren't all! The hardware interconnection between the SCTimer/PWM, ADCs
and comparators allow the motor to be driven with little CPU
intervention. It has free LPCXpresso IDE and free FOC firmware for
sensored and sensorless motors that reduces cost and improves time to
market.

Looking at the unique features and benefits, the Switch
Matrix allows any function to be routed out to any pin making schematic
capture and board layout simpler and faster. The SCTimer/PWM block is
unique to NXP.

Benefits are, it can run independently of the CPU
and generate extremely precise PWM waveforms for quiet, smooth,
efficient motor drive. The 2x 2Msps 12b,12ch ADCs can measure
simultaneous phase currents to determine precise motor position and
speed. There are four comparators for fast system shutdown upon fault
detection.

How will the
LPC1500 aid embedded engineers? According to NXP, it saves time to
market using the free FOC firmware and GUI tuning tool. It also saves
system cost by using only one system MCU, e.g., HVAC typically has one
MCU for fan control and one MCU for the compressor. LPC1500 can control
both.

The LPC1500 feature set makes it ideal for sensorless motor
control removing the need for sensored motors and allowing customers to
switch to cheaper sensorless motors. As the SCTimer/PWM can run
independently of the CPU, the freed up CPU bandwidth can be used to
control other parts of the system for example the LPC1500 can be used
for both the control and motor board in a washing machine.

NXP is currently working with customers to understand their future requirements and developing the roadmap to match their needs.